Elisabeth II will celebrate her birthday discreetly next week, without the traditional salutes of honor, which she considers “inappropriate” in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 14,000 people in the United Kingdom.
The queen turns 94 Tuesday. The date of his birthday is marked each year by cannon shots fired at Hyde Park and the Tower of London, as well as at Royal Windsor Park, some 40 kilometers west of the capital.
But this year, his birthday will not be marked in any particular way, a source at Buckingham Palace told AFP on Saturday.
“There will be no gunshot bursts – Her Majesty wished that no special measures would be put in place to authorize the gunshots as she did not consider this appropriate in the current circumstances,” said the official. source.
Parade canceled
Buckingham Palace had already announced that the military “color salute” parade, organized each year in June to officially celebrate the Queen’s birthday, would not be held this year.
Due to the epidemic, Elisabeth II withdrew with her husband, Prince Philip, to Windsor Castle. Aged 93 and 98 respectively, they are part of the population at risk from coronavirus.
In a historic televised intervention broadcast over the Easter weekend, the queen called her subjects to resilience, assuring that “better days will come.”
ats, dpa
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